Monday, September 12, 2011

Above: a young raccoon searching for remnants of kitty food. Below: one of the three young raccoons popping out of the trash. Every night, I sit and listen helplessly as the raccoons ravage the trash can. I really need to take some action on this.

My husband has commented repeated about my "poor garden", and the other day, told me that even the raccoons don't wan't my tomatoes. Ouch. That could be really hurtful if I didn't accept the fact that this year, I'm getting exactly what I'm putting into my garden...nothing.

Below: no melons for us. Above: the little 4x4 I built this summer. Guess he's right, every cat food crumb gone, the garbage picked through, the tomatoes...untouchable.

9 comments:

Oh no! What happened? Never mind. Not my business. Just consider this condition a minor setback. It will be ok... you can reclaim your garden again. The tons of work you did to create those beautiful stone walls and terraces is still there! I enjoyed reading about your progress in setting all that up. For now, if you can pull any weeds that are going to seed, you will eliminate thousands of additional weeds from showing up next year. It's still under your control, so give it heck if you get the chance. Even if the weeds brown out and die, get rid of the seed heads with scissors and a plastic bag. Pull the rest later on. Just make sure there are no holes in the plastic bag!!

dear wendy, it seems to be a condition of being a passionate gardener that you have ups and downs with the garden. I remember a while ago you took from a break from blogging and now you are up and running again. This will happen with the garden - like veggie pak says above - you will reclaim it. I've never met a raccoon but if they don't like your tomatos they are getting way too much from rubbish bins! cheers, catmint

I have problems with raccoons, too. They are smart and tricky. My garden doesn't look so great, either. The dog has decided to use the liriope as his bed. And I'm still working on getting around to planting the fall garden! Sometimes it's just hard to do everything.

Heyyyyyy! Don't be so hard on yourself! Let's focus on the fact that you are teaching your girls that you can grow your own food and that you make insane meals for your fam....a large amount of the country can't say that they do that! And the coons...we have them too plus ground squirrels who are digging and tearing up my containers...little buggers! Good luck on the raccoons and you are doing great!

Regarding the racoons, think/google/find out of something they don't like and use it to your advantage so as to deter them, send them packing elsewhere.

Wendy, you must be very busy lately! It must be hard on you - I mean the appearance of your garden. The landscape architect in you would not have approved such a sight, haha. But never mind, it is autumn now and soon after the Christmassy winter frost, you can start NEW again!

Hahaha, maybe you are putting more time in the kitchen cooking or inventing dishes! When you post menus i dont normally come here too. You don't like the racoon but it looks so cute. One of our kittens has the same design on its tail although colored orange and white, while its body is white. Just let your garden die of natural death in winter and then revise the plants, then you will be happy again.

Hello!!! We both are on the same page. My garden looks terrible as well and I think...again this is just my opinion...but I think, it's just that time of year. I had a moment of inspiration this past weekend so that was a good sign. As for racoons. While they are really adorable and super intelligent, they can be a pest around the yard. Try using coffee grounds to keep those darn cats out of your beds. There is nothing nastier than working in your patch of green and digging into a pile of that!! I began using coffee grounds and the smell kept them out. Cedar chips also work for a path in the garden and cats don't like the texture on their paws. Plus it will help keep those annoying weeds at bay.

My awesome gardening friends...thanks for leaving a comment! I don't typically repond here, but I love knowing who you are so I can visit your blog as well.

btw - if you're trying to show me nude Miley Cyrus photos, sell me nikes or viagra or antibiotics, or encourage my lovely garden readers to visit your site on solar panel construction, or seo-whatevers, sorry, but I'm not publishing your comment. If you want to moderate my blog - well, I can't keep you too busy, and the pay would be horrible. And lastly, no. I'm not interested in Club Penguin cheat codes. Thanks anyway.

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About Me

I am a high school counselor by day and a landscape architect or possibly farmer in my dreams. I volunteer as a DC Master Gardener. In spare moments, I am a freelance writer with national publication credits. I have also been a symposium speaker. I record my family and garden ramblings on Greenish Thumb for posterity and to share the probably mundane, possibly profoundish thoughts that only other gardeners would smile, nod their heads at and say, "oh, that's so true!". This is also my space to post the photos that we gardeners are endlessly taking - and that our non-gardening friends really could give a *&$^ about.
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